38 FROM AN EASY CHAIR 



rats, and is now being tried in the treatment of 

 sleeping sickness. This is the tartrate of sodium and 

 antimony a salt corresponding to the well-known 

 tartar emetic, with this difference, that it contains 

 sodium instead of potassium. It seems that this 

 sodium variety of tartar emetic is very destructive to 

 trypanosomes in the blood and lymph, and has no 

 injurious effect of a lowering nature, such as occurs when 

 the potassium salt is used. As the antimony drug is 

 far cheaper than atoxyl, it will be possible to apply it 

 freely to horses and cattle suffering from " nagana " and 

 " surra," which are diseases due to trypanosomes of a 

 special kind. Two white men who had become infected 

 by the trypanosome of sleeping sickness in West Africa 

 have been treated with the new drug in London, and 

 the parasites have completely disappeared from their 

 blood in consequence, though it remains to be seen 

 whether a permanent cure has been effected. One 

 cannot imagine a situation of more thrilling interest 

 than that existing in the nursing home where those two 

 victims were given a strong hope of escape from what 

 seemed to be certain death, whilst the fate of thousands 

 of African natives, similarly infected, was hanging in 

 the balance ! After six months from the date of treat- 

 ment the report is satisfactory. The parasites have not 

 yet re-appeared (July, 1908) in the two patients treated 

 in November. 



1 4. Tsetse-Flies and Disease 



Dr. Koch appears to have been questioned on his 

 return to Europe by some journalists as to the results of 

 his study of sleeping sickness during the past year and a 

 half in Uganda. It was already known (three years 

 ago), from the observations of Professor Minchin, Dr. 

 Gray, and Dr. Tulloch (the Royal Society's observers 



